tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578980753063154388.post5123010893608205123..comments2016-12-07T07:55:41.658-08:00Comments on The New Theological Movement: Do you love your neighbor with the same love with which you love God?Father Ryan Erlenbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07557817305024750902noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578980753063154388.post-57155854438029339962011-10-21T12:39:06.638-07:002011-10-21T12:39:06.638-07:00Thank you, Fr. Ryan for posting my comment and for...Thank you, Fr. Ryan for posting my comment and for the encouragement and blessings you have extended to me. I am just too happy to have expressed these thoughts because just like the Blessed Mother, I have pondered them in my heart!Angelanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578980753063154388.post-91675134474670176092011-10-21T11:10:07.197-07:002011-10-21T11:10:07.197-07:00Angela,
Your story is very beautiful and inspiring...Angela,<br />Your story is very beautiful and inspiring ... indeed, to the simple and humble heart, the Good Savior will reveal the hidden mysteries of the Kingdom!<br /><br />Please let me know, if you did not intend for me to post the comment (you had mentioned the length, but I believe it is not at all too long especially considering the witness of the love of God which you relate).<br /><br />Many blessings for you, and praised be to God for the way his love is transforming your life! +Father Ryan Erlenbushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07557817305024750902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578980753063154388.post-75350585106549265592011-10-20T13:27:22.836-07:002011-10-20T13:27:22.836-07:00Fr. Ryan, I am expressing my thoughts to you about...Fr. Ryan, I am expressing my thoughts to you about love of God and neighbor, and this probably is not meant for posting because of its length. I am not as learned as you are and your other readers who have excellent scholastic backgrounds about God. My knowing Him is merely experiential. I had wrestled with the problem of loving God and neighbor for sometime, because I felt like the rich young man who departed sadly because he could not give up what was asked of him in order to follow Jesus. I had really begged God to show me what is meant by this. My diemma was: how could I really give up my love for my daughters and grandchildren for God?<br /> <br />Then, I was diagnosed with urinary bladder cancer, and the doctor could not determine how much it had spread. To make the story short, a month before the surgery, I had time to reflect on my claim of loving God. First, and I am hesitant to reveal this for fear that people might think I am odd, I had that tinge of joy and excitement in knowing that should I die, I will finally see God, after of course, being purged. Then came the realization that my love for my daughters did not take away from my love of God. I even expressed to my daughters that my willingness to give back everything to Him heightened my love for them. I cannot put it exactly into words because there were two levels that were simulataneously going on in my understanding and sensation of love - God and them, and no one took away from the other. The more I loved God, the more I loved my children, and the more I loved my children, the more I loved God. It is as if no one takes away from anyone because they are all one. This is not a feeling, as you say, but a truth that is difficult to explain. The same way that I act towards others, not mere sentimentalism, but something that I act on because of some unknowable force of reaching out and knowing what is to be done at a particular given time. It is as if it is but natural for one to look after the well-being of another, whether one knows or likes the person. It is a strange understanding but beautiful and peaceful.<br /> <br />I am no saint and I still have a long way to go. And I know, that like the others, I also need the kindness of another. Thank you, Fr. Ryan.Angelanoreply@blogger.com